On Saturday, Feb. 4, Gustavo Torres, director of CASA of Maryland, will speak at the Takoma Park Sanctuary City Teach-in at the Municipal Building on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m.

The program will explore the City’s 30-year-old Sanctuary ordinance and its amendments, and will underscore the City’s ongoing commitment to protect its immigrant residents under the letter and spirit of the law. Takoma Park is one of 300+ sanctuary jurisdictions throughout the nation.

On Saturday, Jan. 28, Torres addressed the general meeting of the Takoma Park Mobilization to share information about immigration issues. His words then aired on Talk of Takoma the next day. Listen to that segment here.

In the early 1980’s, local churches began offering sanctuary to some of the thousands of refugees fleeing brutal civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala. This led to a series of supporting resolutions initiated and adopted by then Mayor Sam Abbott and the Takoma Park City Council. In 1985, the ordinance was passed making Takoma Park a Sanctuary City. Affirmed and amended several times, the last in 2007-08, the Takoma Park Sanctuary law prohibits city police and other city employees from asking Takoma Park residents about their citizenship or immigration status. It also prohibits them from cooperating in the enforcement of federal immigration laws that could lead to the deportation of residents.